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Choosing Urban compact living: a case study of an unconventional housing choice of families in contemporary Denmark

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Abstract

In a welfare society like Denmark, deliberately downsizing on dwelling space is at odds with prevailing norms of good housing. Furthermore, the city is perceived as a place for youth or younger single adults, whereas family life is perceived as belonging to suburbia. Yet this paper explores the housing choice processes of urban compact living: middle-class households living in the city in much less space than conventionally. Existing research on this is lacking. Taking an explorative approach, the study is designed to allow this new empirical field to unfold and aims at grasping and understanding the themes and narratives at play. The study focusses on families with children living in Copenhagen, a city lauded for its liveability and high housing conditions, and in which urban compact living is thus very controversial. The paper identifies living in the city as a paramount part of imaginaries of home to an extent that dwellings are deprioritised. However, living in the city and compact living are both attributed features such as progressivity, social awareness, unruliness, and anti-materialism. Introducing a cultural and social understanding of spaciousness, the paper argues that in such narratives, the city and compact living are perceived as physically compact, yet socially spacious.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to confidentiality considerations towards the participants. Data consists in case studies of three households living in Copenhagen, Denmark, identified via professional or private networks, snowballing or press coverage.

Code availability

Data analysed through the use of the Nvivo data analysis software package. Coding trees are available from the author upon request.

Notes

  1. How small has not yet been covered by research; this is a indeed new phenomenon in a Danish context.

  2. Of the remainder, approximately 70% live in single-family houses, and 15% in flats outside urban areas (Statistics Denmark, 2020f).

  3. Given the nature of the study, children only participated to a minor degree (particularly the younger ones).

  4. This figure applies to City of Copenhagen, making up the largest part of the city. Frederiksberg Municipality makes up the remaining, smaller, part of the city, and here, the average floor area is 46 square metres per person (KL, 2018).

  5. Another paper building on this case study (Winther & Bech-Danielsen, 2020) examines this reverse narrative of city and suburbia and its influence on housing choice and home-making.

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Funding

The paper is part of a PhD project carried out as a collaboration between Aalborg University and Fonden for Billige Boliger. The project is funded by Innovation Fund Denmark, Ministry of Higher Education and Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University, AC Meyers Vænge 15, 4, 2450, Copenhagen, SW, Denmark

    Anne Hedegaard Winther

  2. Foundation for Affordable Housing, Herlufsholmvej 37, 2, 2720, Vanløse, Denmark

    Anne Hedegaard Winther

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Correspondence to Anne Hedegaard Winther.

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Winther, A.H. Choosing Urban compact living: a case study of an unconventional housing choice of families in contemporary Denmark. J Hous and the Built Environ 36, 925–941 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-021-09839-8

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